Introduction
The HTML <span> tag is used to group elements for styling purposes. It can be thought of as a generic container for the phrasing content. The <span> tag is much similar to <div> tag, but it is an inline element unlike <div> which is a block-level element. The <span> tag does not inherently represent anything. In this lab, you will learn how to use the <span> tag to group elements for styling purposes.
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Adding the HTML Code
In the index.html file, add the following code inside the <body> tag:
<p>This is a <span>simple</span> example of using the span tag.</p>
Here we have created a paragraph with the word "simple" wrapped inside the <span> tag. This will help us understand the use of this tag practically.
Styling the Span Element
Now let's see how to style the content that is wrapped inside the <span> tag. For example, if we want to add color to the word "simple", we can use the color property in CSS.
Add the following CSS code inside the <head> tag:
<style>
span {
color: red;
}
</style>
This CSS code changes the color of all the content wrapped inside the <span> tag to red. As we have wrapped the word "simple" inside the <span> tag, it will be printed in red color.
Using Span with Other HTML tags
The <span> tag can be used with other HTML elements also. Let's see how you can use it with the <a> tag.
Add the following HTML code inside the <body> tag:
<p>
This is a <span><a href="#">link</a></span> example.
</p>
This creates a paragraph with the word "link" wrapped inside the <span> tag and linked to the URL #.
Styling the Linked Text
Now let's see how we can style the linked text. Add the following CSS code inside the <head> tag:
<style>
span a {
color: green;
text-decoration: none;
}
</style>
This CSS code sets the color of the text inside the <a> tag to green without any underlining.
Adding Event Attributes
The <span> tag supports both global and event attributes. Let's see how we can use the global attribute class to apply styles.
Add the class attribute to the <span> tag that wraps the word "simple" as shown below:
<p>
This is a <span class="example"><a href="#">link</a></span> example.
</p>
Add the following CSS code inside the <head> tag:
<style>
.example {
font-size: 20px;
}
</style>
This CSS code increases the font size of the content inside the <span> tag that has the class example.
Using Span Tags for Semantics
Although the <span> tag doesn't have any inherent meaning, it can be used to convey the semantics of the text it wraps. For instance, you could use it to wrap a date or a percentage to indicate that the text inside has a special meaning.
For example, add the following code to the index.html file:
<p>My final score is <span class="score" aria-label="90 percent">90</span>.</p>
In this example, 90 is wrapped inside the <span> tag and given a class name score. By doing so, we have conveyed that the text inside the <span> tag has a special meaning. In addition, we have added the aria-label attribute to provide accessibility information to a screen reader.
Summary
In this lab, you learned how to use the HTML <span> tag to group elements for styling purposes. You also learned how to style the content wrapped inside the <span> tag, how to use it with other HTML tags, how to use global and event attributes, and how to use the <span> tag to convey semantics.
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